Bob Houghtaling, East Greenwich Town substance-abuse coordinator, bottom right, meets at the town police station with Michael Podraza, East Greenwich High School assistant vice principal, center, and Officer Chris Rafferty.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

When Chief Family Court Justice Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. this summer asked all police departments to refer all cases of underage substance abuse to court rather than local juvenile hearing boards, he harkened to recent tragedies in the town of Barrington and closed his letter with the line: “I trust that together we can stop this tragic downward spiral that continues to threaten our youth, families and communities.”

There are no chiefs or public officials in the area who don’t second that sentiment, but some are chafing at the prospect of taking all such cases out of the hands of local hearing boards which have proved to be very effective and expedient.

The strongest concerns in the West Bay area are being raised in East Greenwich where the town has long employed a full-time substance-abuse counselor to work directly with police in not only identifying underage offenders, but getting them help before they get to the point that they are in trouble.

“Substance abuse doesn’t occur in a vacuum,” said East Greenwich Substance Abuse Coordinator Bob Houghtaling. “We’re dedicated to trying to get to the root cause of the problem.”

Houghtaling divides his days and nights among the schools, the teen center and a tiny office in the police station where he works in tandem with Lt. Thomas Joyce, head of the police department’s juvenile division.” We’re certainly lucky to have a judge that cares like Chief Justice Jeremiah,” Houghtaling said. “But we have worked very hard in East Greenwich to establish a system that allows us to intervene either before a problem occurs or to deliver support almost immediately after a youth is arrested.

“Many nights I’m at the police station talking to a youngster or their family immediately after an arrest. The counseling starts then and I don’t think it could happen that fast if we had to go to court.”

East Greenwich’s concern that sending all juvenile substance-abuse cases to family court might be a “one size fits all” approach that won’t work in every instance was echoed by police officials in Warwick and Cranston recently.

“I’m in favor of taking a hard stand on the issue, but I don’t think it would be good for us to lose all local discretion, Cranston Police Chief Col. Stephen C. McGrath.

McGrath and Col. Stephen M. McCartney, chief of the Warwick Police Department, said that there are already strict rules that dictate which cases can go before community juvenile hearing boards. The boards, which were set up independently in communities with legislative approval, are only for first-time offenders — whether the charge be vandalism, disorderly conduct, or underage drinking. The boards cannot adjudicate more serious crimes that are felony charges.

By often mandating community service and counseling, McCartney said the local boards are “perfect examples of restorative justice.”

“Their goal is not just to impose a sentence but to also teach young offenders to give back to the people of their community,” he said.

“It’s justice at a grass-roots level and I don’t think that everything needs to be taken on by the state.”

Jeremiah said he has no criticisms of local juvenile hearing boards but he cannot ignore the fact that since juvenile records are confidential, the boards do not communicate with each other leaving open the possibility that the same teenager could be charged with underage drinking in more than one town and still have the right to appear as a “first-time offender.”

“Right now we have no way to track a teenager’s behavior from community to community and that is really what the biggest problem is,” Jeremiah said. As far as concerns about backlogs and the need for lawyers, Jeremiah said the court is working on a system for underage substance-abuse cases that will be speedy and most likely not cause most people to seek legal representation. “With this new court, we’re looking to help, not punish,” he said.

Jeremiah has not yet sought legislation to make it mandatory that all juvenile substance abuse cases go to court. And East Greenwich officials said that for now, they are sticking with what has worked well.

“We have a divisional commander with a wealth of experience in Lieutenant Joyce and I meet with him and Bob Houghtaling as often as needed to go over our [juvenile] cases,” said East Greenwich Police Chief David Desjarlais.

“Also, Bob is our mobile asset — the guy in jeans and sneakers who knows all the kids so he can connect with them before they are in serious trouble.

“Arrests are no measure of success,” Desjarlais said.

“It’s mitigating problems before they get that serious that’s important. And I think we do that. Any community could have a tragedy tomorrow, but I think that here in East Greenwich we’ve put together a system that provides the best service for our youths.”

bpoliche@projo.com